Trapped
by kuroneko52
Summary: This is not a happy story. When Dan escapes the thermos, Danny awakens in a house made of glass with runes etched in that negate his intangibility. Then Danny learns that he's not alone in Dan's game.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I own neither Danny Phantom, nor Thir13en Ghosts and any of it's models. I just had one hell of an idea.

Partial credit goes to queenskellington75, since I first launched this idea at her without warning during a Danny Phantom roleplay, not really caring that she'd never seen the movie in the first place.

Nyaa.

**=^o_o^=**

**Chapter 1**

Danny grunted as his head swam through the black fog. He felt like he'd been slugged over the head with a mallet. Sure enough, when he ran a hand through his messy black hair, some blood flakes clung to his hand.

A voice called out to him, pulling him out of his haze. "Hey… Danny? Danny!"

"Ugh… What…?" He sat up on the bed, looking around. He wasn't sure where he was, but it looked elaborate. The bed was a king-size, with a gaudy gold, green and purple color scheme of sheets, pillows and blankets. The walls, ceiling and floor all seemed to be made of a thick glass, with delicate runes carved into them.

"Danny! _Danny Fenton! _Earth to the ghost child!" the disembodied voice shouted.

His ears rang, but he recognized the voice. "Wait… _you…"_

A deep chuckle seemed to rumble the room. "Yes, me. Your evil, future self." Dan Phantom's voice filled the young halfa with a boiling rage instantly. "Oh, why so angry? Aren't you happy to see me? Or do you just hate yourself?"

"I _can't_ see you! Why don't you show yourself so we can talk?" Danny demanded, jumping to his feet. He swayed as his blood rushed away from his head. "Or are you too _scared?"_

"Scared? Of you?" – There was a laugh. – "No, I'm not scared of the mighty hero. But, I didn't want to kill you outright. After all, you crammed me in that godforsaken _soup can."_

"So you locked me up? Nice alternative…" Danny frowned, crossing his arms.

"I thought it rather poetic. I'll let you get comfortable with your new… surroundings."

There was a click and the electronic hum of a sound system went dead.

Danny shook his head; obviously Dan had acquired more of Vlad's Fruit Loop-behavior than he thought. Summoning the twin white rings that activated his ghost form, Danny Fenton became Danny Phantom and rose into the air. Turning intangible, he made to leave the room.

He slammed into the wall, bouncing him back into solidity and onto his butt. Rubbing his head, he berated himself. Of course Dan wouldn't lock him up somewhere he could phase through walls, even if they _didn't_ lead outside. After all, the guy had been trapped in a Fenton Thermos for a _long time,_ and it was all thanks to Danny…

"Well, _that_ didn't work, did it?" Dan's balk made Danny jump. Laughter rang throughout the house before cutting out again.

Fine, so even something as simple as moving through the house wasn't going to be simple. Fantastic. As the glass door slid open, Danny grimaced. The thought of Dan being at the controls left him with a sour feeling in his stomach.

He walked into the glass hallway and looked around. The glass rooms were all filled with strange odds and ends. He got a creepy vibe when he passed a bathroom, desperately hoping that he wouldn't have to use it with his future self watching through the cameras. That thought was just a bit too far beyond uncomfortable with him.

As he wandered, Danny came across a staircase that led below the house into what appeared to be a very dark basement made of some black material, which was also covered in the same rune-engraved glass as the rest of the house. If the glass weren't in the basement as well, he would have been just fine in going downstairs to try and find a way out; with the glass there, however, well… he'd seen plenty of horror movies that told him to avoid the basement unless absolutely necessary.

"Awww, what? Not gonna go into the spooky-looking basement, Danny?" The teen gritted his teeth as Dan's voice aired through the house once again. "Can't say I blame ya. See, I found this _really neat_ blueprint for a portal that opened the gateway to Hell itself, and it required twelve ghosts and a human sacrifice to work. The human sacrifice was actually a fail-safe that I would really rather do without, but the clock wouldn't work without it except as a giant, aesthetic _death trap._ I thought about putting a copy in my fortress of solitude…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, you're sick and twisted and a total Fruit Loop like Vlad."

"Vlad? That old badger ain't got nothin' on me." Dan mocked Danny's voice and gave a laugh. "Anyway, I kicked the 'clock' part out of the design… Spending a few _months_ with Clockwork kinda does that to a person. Besides, I knew you'd hurl your dumb ass into the death trap if you knew it would stop Hell from literally _rising._ Tell me, Danny, have your balls dropped yet?"

"What?" Danny looked around incredulously. "What… What does _that_ have to do with _anything?"_

"Just making sure you were paying attention. Still not cursing, either, I see. What are you now, 15? Nah, still 14, I bet. Fuck, I don't remember any of my birthdays. That's the downside of being me. So, how does it feel to go through _voice changing _a year too late? Wait 'til ya wake up with morning wood. _Those_ were good times… Couldn't keep a cat around for 2 years…"

"You're too crazy for even a _lonely-guy cat."_

"Stop leading the conversation off-topic, you little weasel. As I was trying to tell you, the original plans – the part I kept – required twelve _specific_ types of ghosts that I thought would be fun to throw into that little glass _thermos_ with you… Oops, did I say thermos? I meant hell hole. Sorry, my bad!"

"You _really_ lost it somewhere along the line, didn't you?"

"Oh, you have _no idea!"_ the man snarled into the microphone. "After a _ten-year reign,_ what do you think a few _months in a soup can_ felt like to me? Do you have any idea how _bored_ I was? How _royally pissed off I am?"_

Danny rubbed his ear as an electronic screech sounded throughout the sound system. "Jeez! Sorry I asked…"

"Of course, my memory of books is perfect – hat's off to Vlad for finally being useful to me. It's the only thing that helped keep me sane, once I recalled the plans for the box you're in. See, right now, you're not floating in the middle of the Ghost Zone. You're in the Human Realm." Danny's eyebrows shot up. "That's right. You're where _people_ are! And the twelve ghosts in there with you? They live in the world of the living, too. They do _way_ more than the ghosts back in Amity… and for the next twelve hours, every hour, _on_ the hour, another ghost will be let loose. I don't want to give _everything_ away right now, but I guess you should be allowed to know you have a very limited window of time to go downstairs and see the ghosts in their cages."

Danny's eyes scanned the glass rooms for a moment, catching sigh of a distant clock. It was just a few minutes until the hour – high noon, in fact. "I thought most horror movies took place at night, Dan. Are you trying to be original or something?"

"Nah, I just figured it'd be fun to have a twelve-hour movie to get me through the rest of the day. I prefer to work _after_ midnight. I dunno if that's when you'll get out, but then again, horror movies do seem _so_ much better in the early 'AM' hours… That's something you and I agree on! Hot damn!"

Gritting his teeth, Danny turned around and marched down into the basement. In the darkness, he reflexively felt around for a light switch, and was genuinely surprised when he found one _and_ it actually worked. There were office lights overhead and tubes of lights under the glass of the floor, all leading into a maze beneath the house that was full of what appeared to be empty holding cells.

At least down here there were solid, black walls, though.

He tried to steel his nerves as he ventured forth, peering into each empty case. Danny couldn't help but notice that not only were there more runes in the glass of each room, but there was a title etched into their doors, along with a number.

"Wow… I really hope these aren't 'ghostly titles' or something…" Danny stopped before one in particular. "The _Hammer?_ Jeez, I hope MC Hammer isn't in there…"

Suddenly a large black man covered with railroad spikes appeared, snarling as he slammed the hammer impaled into his wrist against the door. Danny yelped, flailing backwards and hitting the doors of the cell across from 'the Hammer'. There was a loud growl and something slammed against the glass behind him, bumping Danny forward. He turned and wished he hadn't when he saw 'the Juggernaut' in all of his gigantic, bullet-hole filled glory.

"…You're _way_ scarier than the comic book villain. Did you know that?" Danny attempted to joke nervously. The Juggernaut snorted, a mean cloud of steam spreading against the glass as he sneered. "Something tells me you'd _really_ like to rip my head off, so… I'm gonna go over _here…"_

He quickly rounded a corner and leaned against a wall that _wasn't_ attached to a cell, doubling over to try and undo the dizzy spell he was suddenly struck with. Those two men were _huge!_ The fact that they looked almost as homicidal as Dan actually _was_ wasn't a comforting thought, either.

"I'm _so_ gonna die the rest of the way." he whimpered with a dry gulp.

"Not necessarily." a voice piped up from the cell beside him. "Even though the clock itself isn't really in here, this is still a clockwork-house with a lock that relies on the thirteen souls within it. He just… changed the key, that's all."

Danny stood bolt upright and clenched his eyes shut. "You're not another angry, homicidal ghost that apparently died a very nasty, unnatural death, are you?" he asked hopefully.

The voice gave a chuckle that reminded Danny of his mom. "Angry and homicidal? No. Nasty, unnatural death? Afraid so… I was trying to save my kids from a house fire… I made it to the hospital, but it's still pretty evident what killed me."

He took a deep breath and braced himself before walking in front of the cell, making sure to look up at the title first. The Withered Lover, #4. Slowly, he lowered his eyes to the ghost inside and resisted the urge to gasp, or do anything that would do so much as give the illusion of a sudden movement.

The woman inside the cell even looked a little like his mother, with short brown hair and worn, motherly hands… but those hands were burned, and so was half of her face. She was wearing a hospital gown and attached to an IV drip. He couldn't help but notice that she looked like she was very, very tired and in pain, in spite of the soft smile that she was giving him.

"Oh… S-So… um…" Danny fidgeted nervously, looking at the floor as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's alright. I know how bad it looks. Don't feel guilty." The woman made as if to walk over to him, but gave a slight moan of pain and sighed. Still smiling, she said, "My name is Jean. Jean Kriticos. What's your name?"

"Danny Fenton." He looked up, trying to maintain eye contact without wincing in sympathy-pain. "So, Mrs. Kriticos, how do you know so much about Dan's plan?"

"I was one of the first ghosts captured, and he really likes to hear himself talk." She gave a dry chuckle, shaking her head in disdain. "You can call me Jean, by the way."

"Alright Mrs. Kri… Jean. Sorry." Danny smiled a little. "You don't mind helping me get out of here?"

"I'll do what I can, but I'm afraid getting out of here won't be that easy. Unless our… _gracious_ host missed some critical step in the construction process, the only way out of here is to lay each ghost to rest." Jean sighed wistfully. "And I don't think he did."

"That makes two of us." The teen frowned and ran a hand through his hair. "How do I 'lay them to rest'? I don't have to… _kill_ them, do I?"

"You mean again?" She laughed slightly. "That's one of two ways, and the second is only possible when the ghost has deceased family. If you can put their rage out, and make them realize that they weren't as responsible for their deaths as they think they are. It's something only reserved for mad ghosts, and it rarely works because… Well, you saw George and Horace."

"You mean… the Hammer… and the Juggernaut?" Danny gulped again at the thought. He certainly didn't want to fight them, but he could see how trying to reason them was just as hopeless an option. "Yeah… Yeah, I get it."

"Luckily, the house starts off by releasing the weakest ghost first, and their power-related threat level progresses with time. You won't face those two for quite awhile. The Juggernaut comes last in the Black Zodiac."

"The… Black Zodiac?" It sounded like something straight out of one of Sam's goth books.

"That's how the list of ghosts needed for the original contraption was described, since there was originally twelve until the thirteenth, the sacrifice known as 'the Broken Heart', was discovered by the occultists who tried to build it centuries ago. It wouldn't actually open the portal unless such a human was intended as a sacrifice, and was in the vicinity."

"Oh. Okay, well… Who all is in the Black Zodiac? What am I in for?"

Jean opened her mouth to respond, but a grandfather clock sound chimed throughout the house a single time before Dan's voice rejoined them: "Tick, tock, tick, tock. Time to meet your first playmate, Danny."

"What? I… I thought it was almost noon, not one…" Danny muttered, then jumped as the walls of the house began shifting.

"It's the announcement of the first ghost. The First Born Son, Billy." Jean shuffled nervously, looking around. "Danny, he's a mean little boy, and he _is_ a homicidal ghost, but beneath it all, he's just a lost child. You're no match for him down here – it's like hide and seek for him, and he's almost half your size. Get upstairs. Get upstairs _now."_

"But I – "

"_Now, Danny Fenton."_ Jean barked like an angry mother.

Eyes wide, Danny nodded and ran for the stairs, ignoring the cackles and jeers he got from a ghost in a straitjacket as he passed its cell. His mind raced as his body moved; how strong was the ghost; was there a way he could save energy by defeating the first few ghosts in human form; where would Dan be hiding once Danny got out of this hell-box; all the questions snapped through his head like slingshot pellets.

He came to a halt when he reached the foot of the stairs and found a little boy standing at the top. Billy was dressed like a cowboy, but had an Indian headband with feathers in lieu of a wide-brim hat. Then there was the steel-tip arrow with its head protruding from the child's forehead.

Billy's eyes narrowed down at Danny. Then an eerie smile spread across his blue lips.

"Play with me."

**=^nwn^=**

I hope this does good for a first chapter's purpose! I just wanted to lay down the foundation of the fanfic and how it pulls from both Danny Phantom and Thir13en Ghosts; hopefully neither overshadows the other too much, although this is obviously not a happy story.

Nyaa.

**There is one thing I want to say before you continue.** Even though this story has Dan as the evil antagonistic asshat who designed the whole thing (good heavens, I love that man), Danny will _not_ be showing down against him at the end of this fic. That said, I want to leave you to wonder whether or not Danny gets out alive. Have fun with that!

Nyaa!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Danny Phantom, and I don't own Thir13en Ghosts or any of its cash-producing variations. Just this fan-version, which makes no money, I assure you.

Nyaa.

**=^'.'^=**

**Chapter 2**

Danny watched Billy twirl his tomahawk, tossing it into the air and catching it each time. The kid couldn't have been older than six or seven years old, yet he had a distinct serial killer-crazy look in his eyes like the Hammer and Juggernaut had had.

He raised his hands slowly, taking a step up the stairs and towards the angry ghost. "Hey… Billy, right? My name's Danny. I'm here to help you."

Billy continued to leer at him coldly, smirking. He didn't say a word.

Letting a breath out slowly, Danny continued, "You believe me, right? You know I'm here to help you? We can play a game first, if you want… Uh… Wh-What game do you wanna play?"

There was a malicious glint in Billy's eye. He stopped tossing his tomahawk around and held it at his side. "I want to play… _tag."_ Pulling back, he threw the tomahawk, which flew past Danny's head and disintegrated as it hit the wall of runes behind him. "You're it."

"Uh… I'd really rather _not…"_ Danny summoned forth his ghost form, turning invisible before the white rings had disappeared.

Billy's smirk turned into an angry sneer as his tomahawk reappeared in his hand. "Hey! That's _cheating! _You… You…"

He took a deep breath and let loose a wild, banshee-like shriek. The whole house shook, and Danny screamed as he covered his ears. Shaken, he turned visible once more, hissing as he opened an eye and looked at the triumphantly-grinning child.

Why did _he_ know the Ghostly Wail?

"Screaming kid… Go figure…" Danny shook his headache off and instead flew straight up the stairs at Billy, knocking the boy on his butt while retreating through the hallways of the house, turning invisible again.

Billy growled as he got to his feet again. _"Cheater!" _he yelled after Danny, then smirked and mumbled, "I can do that too…" before turning invisible himself.

Danny moved slowly; despite being invisible, he didn't feel safe staying in one spot while tangling with a ghost that knew Danny Phantom's most powerful move and didn't even seem _winded_ after using it. But he was a kid! It was like fighting a cross between Youngblood and Chuckie! Youngblood didn't _murder_ people, he was just a prankster!

Then again, Youngblood hadn't been shot in the head with a steel arrow at seven years old, either. Still, that didn't explain why the First Born Son was a killer ghost… What on earth could possibly lead a young boy's soul to become so deranged and sinister?

He looked around for Billy, even coming to a halt and lowering to the ground. He knew that eventually he would have to turn visible to try luring the boy out, but for now he needed to think. He had to think of how to stop Billy's spectral rage, but what if he couldn't?

Danny Phantom didn't kill children, even if they _were_ already ghosts and hell-bent on spilling his blood.

Cautiously, Danny stepped into one of the bedrooms, one that was outfitted to be a child's room. Toy boats and a telescope were on the shelves, a stuffed bear sat on the bed, and there was a chest of older-looking toys.

"C'mon, Danny! You're really being a stick in the mud about this. This is my only source of entertainment right now!" Dan barked accusingly over the sound system.

With a roll of his eyes, Danny shook his invisible head and remained still, looking and listening for any sounds of movement. Ghosts still made footsteps when they were walking, and when floating, they were easily mistaken for a breeze.

Something scuffled nearby, and he held his breath.

Billy became visible in the doorway, giving the room a suspicious leer. He stepped inside and glared around at everything, making sure he didn't touch anything.

Just when Danny was a second away from saying something, it happened; Billy _flipped._

The child ghost shrieked in primal rage, embedding his tomahawk into the lip of the open chest. He swung the box across the room, toys flying everywhere as he smashed the toy chest into the shelves. The bear was ripped apart. Billy picked up the bed and flung it at the wall.

Danny dove out of the way not a moment too soon, landing hard on the ground and losing his invisibility.

"You!" The remains of the toy box were thrown down upon Danny's back. "This is all _your_ fault!"

Billy jumped onto Danny with surprising force, grabbing a fistful of white hair as he raised the tomahawk over his head. Mentally kicking himself, Danny gathered pale, green energy into his hand and blasted the boy away. Billy disappeared with a scream.

"Didn't Maddie ever teach us to play nice?" Dan asked as his younger self stood and dusted himself off. "Actually, no, I guess she didn't… Always too busy being _good_ for that talk to ever happen. Wait, there was that time where we got pissy with Jazz and took Bearbert and buried him in the yard! …Got Maddie scolding like crazy… She never was good at that. No wonder Vlad's got it bad for her. Urgh… Did I ever tell you how awful a _real_ Oedipus Complex is?"

"Dude, I don't want to know about that!" Danny shoved his palms over his ears. As if the thought of Vlad hitting on his mom wasn't bad enough…

"…It's a horrible visual, isn't it?"

"_Shut up!"_ Danny fired a blast at the ceiling, only to flail out of the way when it bounced back and dissipated.

"You know, that reminds me – Vlad was actually a lot smarter before that case of the crazies that _you_ made worse are concerned. Let's put it like this: if Vlad's math level was trigonometry, then yours was algebra and I'm barely scratching geometry. So, Danny, thanks for _that."_ There was a pause. "Then again, that _was_ all I needed to build a house that is, essentially, a giant, glass puzzle-box."

Danny pushed the voice of his older self aside, looking around for the next attack.

"You blasted the kid, moron. He was seven when he died. Dumbass was even the one who did himself in. His mama told him not to play with _real_ crossbows."

"Did you _really_ just call a seven-year-old a _dumbass?"_ Danny demanded incredulously.

"Yeah. I'm not a goody-goody like you, remember?"

"But even _Vlad_ has limits!"

"I'm not Vlad."

The teen ghost hissed and rubbed the heel of his hand against his forehead.

* * *

Jean watched as Billy reappeared in his cell, just across from hers and to the left. Parts of his face, chest and shoulder had trouble bringing itself together. She sighed, placed one of her hands against the glass door, and shook her head slightly. Danny had attacked Billy after all; then again, she couldn't blame him.

He and the others were a special brand of ghosts called wraiths. They were ghosts who had barely retained their human selves between their death and becoming spectral beings. Their pain and madness was so great, they scarcely remembered who they were as humans.

The only difference between herself and them was the fact that whatever family they'd had at their time of death had long since died and moved on. Their sense of abandonment piled on top of the pain they already felt, burning into it like salt in a cut. It just kept festering.

Billy growled, trying to focus on the particles of his face and body that refused to come and stay together. As his shoulder retained a moment of solidity, he looked hopeful. The second everything fell away, he shrieked loudly, letting loose a Wail that rattled the rune-etched glass of the basement. All the outburst did was make the boy disappear for a moment, and the ghost in the cell across from hers began screaming in pain as well.

"You don't have to hurt him, Billy." Jean said as he reappeared once more. "I know that name's the same as your friend, but that's not your playmate-Danny."

She was met with a ferocious glare. Being a mother, she didn't back down. "What the hell do _you_ know, you ugly old bag?" he snapped, throwing his tomahawk in her direction.

It barely made it across the hallway. "Please, Billy! Just give him a chance! Let him help you!"

Suddenly, there was another chime of the grandfather clock. Jean snapped to attention at its sound; an hour hadn't passed yet!

Billy looked towards the upstairs, a sinister smile tugging at his lips. "The guy with the fire-hair was right… Cheating _is_ fun."

As he disappeared, the cell across from Jean opened its doors. The ghost appeared briefly, groaning in pain as he pulled himself into the hallways, his head tucked under an arm for safety. The Torso had been released.

What seemed like a laughable, albeit still horrific, ghost, the ghost who served as the Torso had two functions from what Jean had seen: Wailing in pain, and quietly sneaking up on victims. Alone, he was relatively harmless, forever scaring people as he cried for help. In connection with other ghosts, however – least of all Billy – he could prove to be a problem.

Jean clapped against the glass desperately. "Jimmy, _no!_ Listen to me! _Jimmy!"_

* * *

Danny groaned as he wandered around the house, looking for any sign of either ghost that was supposedly wandering around now. "So… what's the point of the clock again, exactly?"

"It's a Doomsday Clock." came the smug reply. "I didn't really care to fix that 'AM or PM' function, considering there's tons of clocks in there. By the way, it's not as early as you tried to get me to admit earlier."

Obviously. Danny shook his head, running a hand through his hair. Today was turning out to be such a horrible one; he wasn't sure that he would want to watch another ghost movie for as long as he lived.

Suddenly, there was a shriek, and something grabbed one of his ankles. Danny yelped as he tripped, and when he started to pick himself back up, he wished he hadn't. There was what initially appeared to be a giant ball of cellophane on the floor in front of him, but closer inspection revealed two bulging, frightened eyes staring at him through the clouded material.

Both Danny and the severed head began screaming at the same time. Fighting to get up, the teen tried to kick whatever was holding his ankle off, but when he turned to get better bearings, he saw that a disembodied torso – also wrapped in cellophane – with only its arms and hands left intact, was the thing weighing him down. Even when he tried to phase his feet away from it, the ghost merely phased along with him and continued screaming.

Danny's panic got an added bonus as something metal bit into his arm; he yelled in pain.

Billy was back, standing over him with his tomahawk and a manic, semi-enraged grin plastered to his face. "Hold still this time."

**=^ono^=**

Sorry this chapter's a little short, I didn't want to cut it off in a way that felt weird when I – or you guys – read it. I like the cliffhangers when they arise.

Nyaa.

In other news: Billy drew first blood! Oh noez! And why does Jean know so much about the other ghosts? Well… I am a clever kitty, so I know, and in time, you will also know.

Nyahahahaa…


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own rights to Danny Phantom or Thir13en Ghosts. If I did, Thir13en Ghosts would've been longer, and Dan would have made the DP series rated R for gore, violence, and language.

Nyaa.

**=^n.n^=**

**Chapter 3**

Danny gritted his teeth and blasted Billy in the gut, sending the ghost flying backwards. Quickly, he turned and did the same to the torso that was holding onto him. Jimmy's head whimpered and screamed as his torso let go of Danny and cowered a little.

"What is going on here?" Danny held onto the gash on his shoulder tightly. Where the hell had Dan found these ghosts, and how could Danny be sure that they weren't his _victims?_

"Oh, put on your big girl panties!" Dan mocked over the sound system, cackling. "These are just the two _weakest_ of the group! If you're having problems right out of the gate, you are _seriously_ going to make me cry. No wonder even that fruity pom gave up on you! _Nooo_ potential…"

"Would you just _shut up_ already?" The young halfa felt his spectral energy crackle and cover his fists in a thin layer of ice, but had to turn it on someone other than Dan as Billy flew at him again. Billy hit the rune-engraved glass and disappeared with a pained grunt.

Danny felt two hands wrap around his ankles and shuddered as his pupils darted to the corners of his eyes. Jimmy's torso tried to shake his legs, head groaning pitifully, before launching itself upwards and slamming him to the ground. The back of his skull bounced off of the floor and he started wrestling with Jimmy as the man's ghost started trying to grab at his throat.

"Get off of me! Get the hell off, you freak!" Danny turned slightly, pushing the torso up as a hand pressed his face against the glass.

Jimmy's head was right there, eyes wide in fear and – it made the halfa's stomach turn when he recognized it – pain. Even though this ghost was long-dead, he was still feeling the agony of his mortal wounds.

"Help me…" The Italian's voice quivered for a moment, his fingers clawing slightly at Danny's face. "Help… _Help me!"_

Danny let out a pained scream as intense, violent energy attacked him from seemingly nowhere. It set his joints on edge, as if something were trying to grate against the cartilage. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he thought he heard a chainsaw.

What the hell had happened to this guy?

"I said _off!"_ Danny wedged his knees under the torso and kicked it off. As he jumped to his feet, he looked around wildly for Billy. The child ghost pulled himself together for a moment, appearing shakily and angrily long enough to fix the teen with a scowl, before losing focus and disappearing again.

"You know what this party needs?" Dan's voice sounded bored over the intercom. "Chicks. There are way too many roosters in this chicken coop. Plus, let's face it – neither you _or_ Vlad could ever really get too far without a girl hanging around. Hopefully the _slutty_ one doesn't distract you, though…"

"_What?"_ Danny's voice was drowned out as the clocks began chiming again and the walls shifted. He had to jump out of the way as one glass sheet sliced near his arm, dangerously close to taking it off.

On the other side, Jimmy's torso could be seen hammering against the rune etchings helplessly, his screams muffled by the barrier. Billy appeared next to him and scowled hard at Danny before looking around for a new route to his 'playmate'.

Well, at least Danny was safe for the moment. He hoped that the new ghosts didn't find him too quickly.

No sooner had he thought this when he was bowled over, tackled to the ground by a definitely-feminine form. The girl couldn't have been too much older than Danny – maybe a sophomore, or a junior in high school at best. A man's necktie had been knotted around her throat, and her eyes and face betrayed her suffocation.

"You'll help me, won't you?" Susan sounded breathless. Danny sat bolt upright and shoved her away, trying to scoot back. She crawled after him, looking desperate. "Please? Love me, keep me safe…"

"Dude, I have a girlfriend!" Danny threw up his hands in case she tried to jump him again.

Her face instantly darkened. Without further warning, she had sucker-punched him across the face and tackled him, her delicate hands surprisingly strong as they locked around his neck. She looked furious, panicked and deranged all at once as she hissed, "It wasn't my fault! He walked in on us! I _loved_ him, though, I swear! He shouldn't have killed me… We were gonna get married!"

"Susan!" A familiar woman's ghost blasted the young girl off of Danny's chest, slouching slightly from the pain of the effort. Jean straightened up slightly and waved an arm. "Danny, this way! Before she can reform!"

Danny didn't need to be told twice. He got to his feet as quickly as possible and took off after Jean, staying near her as she led the way through the maze of glass walls and rune barriers. Each time he was afraid that she had gotten turned around, the mother narrowed her eyes like a fox before taking another glance at her surroundings and continuing onward.

Before he knew it, they were in a library of some sort – it wasn't big, but by some miracle, it had a door that could shut. He lost no time turning human and slamming it into place. When he turned back to Jean, she was doubled over slightly, pain evident on her face as she held her head.

"Jean?" Danny darted forward on auto-pilot, grabbing a chair from the table and wheeling it up behind her. "Here, sit down. How much energy did you put into blasting that… _girl…_ off of me?"

"It's not a lack of energy, Danny. The mental trauma from my death made me like the others here, so I still feel the pain of my burns, even though I'm present enough to know that I have no more human body." Jean eased herself into the chair and leaned forward slightly, giving a huge sigh of relief. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Yeah, well… He's worse than Youngblood, but Billy's not the first child ghost I've had to fight." Danny frowned. "Definitely the worst. And what's with the… the guy without a head? Or the girl who tried making out with me?"

"One at a time, Danny. Let me explain what I remember from Dan's talks and the other ghosts." Jean hushed gently, chuckling at him. Danny gave her a confused look; adults were so odd sometimes, especially mothers. "Like I told you before, there are two ways to lie a ghost to rest, and the only way out of this house is to lay the other twelve ghosts through either violent or non-violent means. While attacking them until their signature 'fades', so to speak, is definitely the easier way, not all of these ghosts deserve to disappear as painfully as they died."

"Yeah… I can see why you'd say that… The headless ghost was pleading before he flipped out and attacked me. For a moment, I thought he had a chainsaw…"

"Jimmy. No, he wasn't attacking _you,_ per se; we are ghosts that are classified as 'wraiths', and some of us are far-madder than others in death. Jimmy was killed as a result of casino debts in Las Vegas, sometime in the 40's or 50's, by my guess… He made a bet with a mobster, lost, and tried to run away."

Danny's eyebrows knitted together. "What… What exactly did they _do_ to him…?"

"They tied him to a chair and sawed his body apart while he was still alive. Many parts were sent to others who had debts with the casinos as a warning of what would happen if _they_ tried to get out of town." Jean glanced at the door sadly, as if she expected Jimmy to be there. He wasn't. "In the Black Zodiac, he's the Torso. His ghost has haunted the warehouse where his body was butchered for years. He's not inherently evil, but he can't communicate properly as most others can… for obvious reasons. When he latched onto you, and you felt and heard the chainsaw, that was him trying to 'explain' his demise to you."

"So… So I was _living_ his _death?"_ Danny felt the blood drain from his face.

"If he had attacked you, don't you think that you would still be in pain, rather than just shaken by what he put you through?"

Good point – his joints itched a little when he thought of the encounter, but as soon as Danny had kicked Jimmy off, no pain had remained for even a second. "He was trying to tell me to kill him?"

"Jimmy is too scarred to know what he wants. Wraiths can rarely face their deaths, even though they know they're dead on some level, and are aware of any part that they might have played in their deaths. Jimmy's one of the more close-minded ones; he was killed because he had a gambling addiction, and when he tried to skip town, one of his friends was murdered for not knowing where he'd gone. His guilt blinds him to the truth."

"Truth?"

"He was a man with a disease who made mistakes. It's the human condition." Jean shook her head. "I'm not condoning what he did, but I know that he was still a victim at the end of the day. He didn't deserve to die, especially the way he was murdered."

"Why can't he see that, then?" Danny was exasperated at the thought of someone like that actually thinking that they had what came to do them in.

Jean fixed Danny with a gentle-yet-stern maternal look. "When we're in pain, the human mind doesn't exactly remember the good points in life too readily, now, does it?"C

Another good point. Danny sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Alright, so we help him get over it. What about the other two?"

"Billy died while playing with a bow-and-arrow set that he and his friend found in one of their parents' closets. This was around the same era as Jimmy's death, I believe… back when Westerns were popular. He and his friend liked to play Cowboys and Indians." Jean rubbed her chin, closing her eyes while thinking hard. "I don't remember if it was a crossbow or not, but either way, they weren't supervised."

"Then it was the parents' faults for not locking their weapons up!" Danny threw up his arms. "Is _that_ why he's attacking people? Some morbid form of teaching 'safety tips' or something?"

"A child doesn't look at the situation in such logical parameters. His friend was the one who shot him, so he blamed his friend… whose name was Danny. I'm sure that's why he's so violently fixed on _you,_ compared to his usual bloodlust. However, Billy's like the other two – he thinks it was his fault because, in life, he wasn't a pleasant child. He didn't listen to his parents, broke dishes while playing indoors, acted out when he didn't get his way."

"He believes he deserved to die, too?" Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. "I have to deal with a suicidal, homicidally-enraged seven-year-old. Great. Just great."

"Then there's Susan." Jean looked at Danny. "She was killed by the love of her life because he caught her in the arms of another boy at a school dance. Susan was… apparently _notorious_ for cheating in relationships, but I believe that she genuinely loved the boy who ended up killing her."

"She cheated on him! Why would she do that if she cared about him?"

"Because she accepted his proposal of marriage and turned down an athletic scholarship at a college just to be able to raise a family with him." Jean chuckled, looking amused with Danny's confused expression. "Those in your age group are not well-known for their rational decisions and amazing capacity for breaking habits, no matter how bad they may be. Smoking, drinking, cheating… that's the age when we all get in the most trouble for doing things we shouldn't."

"So I'm dealing with _three_ ghosts that are going to try to kill me while I talk some sense into them." Danny crossed his arms and leaned against a bookshelf angrily. "This sucks! I mean, I really don't _want_ to hurt anyone, but if _those_ guys aren't giving me a break, and the ones coming up just get worse as the numbers rise…"

He pressed the heel of a hand against his forehead. He wasn't the sort to hurt an enemy purely because they fought, especially if he could help them change their ways, but he had to think about getting out of the prison alive! Of course, he also didn't want to hurt any otherwise-innocent souls… especially since he was already the main attraction of Dan's sick entertainment.

"You can't hide in here forever, though." Jean pulled him out of his thoughts gently. "Danny, I know you want to be the hero, but even the best heroes aren't perfect." She got to her feet gingerly and placed a hand on his shoulder. "There's going to be a time soon enough when you won't be able to reason with these ghosts. They only get more bitter and jaded as their power increases, and they're considered evil because of it. Be glad that you have the chance to save anyone at all."

Danny looked up at her, knowing that she was right. He couldn't hide; it was his duty as a person with superpowers to help those who needed it. He was a protector… right?

His mind started working as quickly as he could get it to. "So, I have to get them to listen to me _without_ attacking them and while trying to play defense. I don't want to take damage if it's avoidable, since I'll most likely be taking punishment from the bigger and badder ghosts that are still locked up downstairs." He chose to ignore how much he probably sounded like Vlad at this moment. "Billy was accidentally killed by a kid with _my_ name, so he'll most likely go postal on me anyway. He's the one that I should be the most worried about… Unless Susan tries jumping on me again." Danny frowned deeply at that thought.

"I'll be there to help you, Danny." Jean smiled at him. "I'm not as fragile as I look, and we wraiths can't kill one another, since we're used to taking a fair amount of damage. We're perfectly capable of hurting each other, however."

"Jean, you really don't need to – "

"Yes, I do. Besides, I want to." She made her way over to the door, ready for it to be opened. "You have my help whether you want it or not. I suggest that you just give in and accept it."

He heaved a sigh, shooting her back a flat look. Without turning around, she chuckled. "I saw that." He huffed again, crossing his arms and ignoring her comment.

"Fine… So, you'll help me. But at least stay behind me so you don't get hurt as much, okay?" Danny asked, walking up beside her. He put a hand on Jean's shoulder, looking up into the older woman's eyes. Even in death, he could tell that she still suffered from the angry burn that claimed half of her face. "I know you're a mom and all, but I don't want to see you get fried by some little… cowboy brat, or a crazy prom queen, or even a guy who's half a body."

Her small smirk never left her face. She really did look like she was a withered, albeit caring, person. "Okay, Danny. Lead the way."

**=^ónò^=**

Oh, noes! Danny's in deep! Well, at least he has an ally in this messed-up house, eh? Yeah… Messed-up house… .

Nyaa?


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Same ol', same ol'; I don't own rights to Thir13en Ghosts or Danny Phantom.

Nyaa.

**=^'.'^=**

**Chapter 4**

"Finally! The bullshit soap opera part is over with." Dan growled over the speaker system as Danny pushed the door open and stepped out carefully. "Tell me, Danny – am I your evil twin, or the illegitimate child you wish you had aborted?"

As Danny made some throat twitch between a gag and a choking sound, eyeballs trying to jump from their sockets. He wasn't sure which option was worse, just like he wasn't sure why he was listening to Dan at all at this point.

"Fuck, I'm the child, aren't I? And you thought it would be terrible having Vlad as a father… Well, it is. Which means you're the mother! Makes sense; sons _always_ take after their mothers, after all. How's the thought of being Vlad's _ass-bitch_ treating you?"

"I think I'm gonna throw up." Danny mumbled.

Jean patted the poor teen on the shoulder. "Well, he does know how to push your buttons, doesn't he…?"

"Speaking of mothers and sons – how's your boy, Jean?" The sadistic grin could actually be heard in Dan's voice. "Younger son, older daughter; you're a regular Maddie Fenton! I sure can pick 'em, just like the old Fruit Loop. Man, am I fucking amazing, or what?"

There was a shriek as Susan flew at Danny, appearing out of thin air as she grabbed his neck and bowled him over. Her fingers squeezed tightly around his throat.

"Susan! Stop!" Jean tried to ready her own counterstrike, but found her feet pulled out from under her by Jimmy. Her head bounced off the glass floor painfully, making her grunt. As Jimmy crawled on her, pleading and crying for help, a child's boot stepped on the back of her neck.

Billy leaned down, tomahawk in hand. "It's time to get this game over with. You lose."

Danny was trying to push Susan off of him when he saw the dead child grab a fistful of Jean's hair. Billy raised his tomahawk over his head with a hateful sneer.

Susan went flying off of Danny in a white-green blast of energy, and two seconds later, Danny had tackled Billy to the ground. Pinning the evil child down, the bigger of them slapped Billy soundly across the face. "You leave her alone, you bratty little sadist! If you touch her again, I'll kill you!"

It took Billy a moment to overcome his stunned status. "You already did! It's _your_ fault I'm dead, Danny! I'll fucking kill you and your hag mother!" he screamed back, straining against the hands pinning his wrists.

Danny felt an insane amount of rage broiling in his gut. "I was born _fifty years_ after you died, you twit! Shut up and listen for once! Your parents _told_ you not to play with a bow and arrow – that's like playing with a loaded gun, you little jerk!"

He would have said more, but Jimmy's torso jumped on Danny's back at that moment, hands grabbing his face from behind. Danny yelped and flailed, rolling off of Billy as he tried to shake Jimmy off, as the nearby head pleaded loudly.

Billy stared at the ceiling, wide-eyed. Fifty years… was that true? He would have to be an old man, but he wasn't alive. That realization struck a cord. He was dead. He remembered standing next to his parents at his own funeral, trying to get their attention, trying to apologize for not listening. He remembered his mother crying at home in his room, his dad drinking in his study, both of them cursing him for not listening. Billy the Brat. That was him.

He recalled them moving far away from his home, unable to handle the pain of his absence. He couldn't follow, afraid of unfamiliar territory. When they died, he felt it… He wasn't present, but he _knew._ His parents died and moved on without him. It destroyed him, being left alone in the world.

"Dammit! Stop that, Jimmy!" Danny managed to grapple the chest and stomach piece off of his back and sat on Jimmy, panting as he leaned onto his knees. Jimmy's head whined and rolled onto the back of his scalp, whimpering as it sort of rocked back and forth. Danny shook his head, placing it in his hand. "I'm not in a puzzle box, I'm in a freaking mental ward…"

"Billy?" Jean knelt down next to the little ghost, who was curled in a ball against one of the walls. Danny lifted his gaze. Billy's knees were bent up to protect his body, and his hands were clapped to the sides of his head. A distraught look was on the First-Born's face.

He no longer looked dead. The arrow was gone, his cheeks had a rosy hue, and his previously-dark, grayish-black eyes were now blue.

"I didn't mean to be bad." he whispered, looking slightly catatonic as tears rolled over his cheeks. "I just wanted to play like on TV."

Danny felt a pang of guilt. He didn't mean to make the kid cry… As he opened his mouth to say something, however, Billy emitted a bright light and disappeared.

He was gone.

The grandfather clock chimed once more.

"What… What happened?" Danny stood up and walked over to where Billy had been sitting. "Did he…?"

"He crossed over." Jean looked at Danny. "You put him to rest."

Danny ran a hand through his hair, chest aching. Billy hadn't looked at peace to him! "I-I didn't mean to unload on him like that! I didn't want to make him feel bad!"

Jean stood up and hugged Danny gingerly. "I know you didn't, Danny. Don't feel so bad – you're only human, after all." She put her hands on his shoulders and stepped back, looking at him. "What matters is that you _did_ help him. You managed to make him see that he belonged on the other side, with his parents, and not here. He went mad because all of his living relatives were gone and he was _alone._ Now he can rest."

That did little for Danny's guilt, but for now, it would have to do. Licking his lips and nodding, he looked around. "Where'd Susan go…?"

"We should worry about where the new ghost is." Jean frowned as one of Jimmy's hands grabbed the hem of her hospital gown and tugged at it pathetically. "His name is Royce; he's the Torn Prince, and in life, he was a star baseball player at his high school and a notorious bully."

Danny frowned and immediately thought of Dash. Helping this guy wouldn't be easy.

"My ears are burning."

The duo turned to see a high school, approximately seventeen with dark hair and even darker eyes. Half of his body had a gross, bloody, heavy-duty case of road rash – where his right eye would have been was a dark, black orb with a red, glowing dot for a pupil. He held a baseball bat in one hand and had a large, plastic ball in the other.

As the ball whimpered loudly, they realized it was Jimmy's head. "…Help me…?"

Danny raised his hands slowly. "Hey. Royce, right? Let's not be hasty about fighting."

Royce snorted and smirked. "Fight? You and me? Look at you. You're a skinny little nerd. I'm an all-star athlete. I've got _scholarship offers_ for how good I am. What've you got, aside from an old bag and a… whatever's up with the Italian there?" He gestured his bat to Jimmy, then put it against his shoulder. "You don't wanna fight me."

"You're right. I don't." Danny let out a breath he had been holding. "So let's talk."

"Talk?" Royce hummed, making a mocking-thoughtful face. "Mm… Hm… Nah."

With that, he tossed Jimmy's head in the air and swung his bat. Hard. The head flew down the hallway and rebounded from a wall. Its owner began screaming in new pain, torso writhing.

Danny's eyes bugged. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I want out of this box, kid." Royce looked over Danny disdainfully. "All I gotta do is get rid of twelve ghosts. Ya might not be _dead,_ but you're still a ghost."

"It doesn't work like that and you know it!" Jean scorned. "Danny's not the Broken Heart. He's only in here because Dan Phantom wants to put him through hell."

"Exactly." Royce smirked cockily. "And by the time _I'm_ done with him, his heart'll be broken along with every other bone and organ in his meat-suit."

Danny stared at the other ghost teen. How could someone be so… awful? Sure, he was a wraith, but he seemed much more clear-minded than the others. Like Jean, except he was being a total prick.

He looked down as something tugged at his jeans. It was Jimmy's torso. He didn't need the head nearby to know what was being asked of the young hero.

"Royce still has family that's alive. He was a James Dean-wannabe. He died in the 50's, too." Jean frowned, stepping closer to Danny. She looked worried. "He's smarter than most wraiths because of how he was in life. He was cruel, despicable, mean… All he needed was a little murder on the side to be a true devil's advocate."

With a chuckle, Royce shrugged and held out his hands. "Hey, I don't need to be alive to be a winner. At least the 'hypothetical future'-you understands that."

An angry burn crept up Danny's spine. "You need to be knocked down a peg." he decided, storming in Royce's direction.

The athlete narrowed his eyes. "Go ahead and try."

Eyes glowing green, Danny flew through the air at Royce, frigid energy blazing around his fists. The darker teen took his bat in his hands and swung; Danny phased through it and planted a great hit on Royce's cheek, knocking him into the wall.

Royce snarled and grabbed Danny, socking him in the gut. As the lighter teen doubled over, a knee came up and smashed into his face. Royce threw him aside and took his baseball bat back up. He crashed it down on Danny's shoulder, his rib cage, his legs – anything he could hit. A few red-and-green welts were created and broken open in the same swing.

Then Susan bowled Royce over. She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, clearly in a swoon as she pinned him against a wall. "My fiancé was a good guy." She smiled coyly. "But there's just _something_ about a bad boy…"

The distraction was enough air to let Danny get back to his feet. He had to wonder just how crazy Susan was, flirting with him one minute, then throwing herself at the one who had knocked him down just as it looked like he was losing ground. Maybe she just had a thing for athletes.

He tried not to link her to Paulina.

Royce smiled at Susan. Danny watched the baseball bat reappear in his hand. "Susan, look out!"

She was backhanded and tossed aside. Royce sneered at her. "Don't get into a man's business, bitch."

Danny's fist crashed into his face for a second time, this time much harder and more painful than before. The angry halfa grabbed Royce's shirt collar as he stumbled to one side, then began punching him repeatedly as he drove his snapping point home: _"Men. Don't. Hit. Women!"_

The left half of his face now scratched up by ice, Royce butted his head against Danny's. As his opponent took a shell-shocked step back, he let out a yell and blasted the halfa in the gut, throwing him several feet back. He started forward, but Jean threw herself between the two boys.

"Royce. Don't do this." Jean warned. The burnt half of her face began smoking. "I may have a lower number, but I'm still smarter than you."

He gave her a dirty look. "Unlike the loser behind ya, I don't need my _mommy_ fighting for me… and I certainly ain't gonna back away from _killing_ a mommy to get out of here."

Royce started to advance, but, to his surprise as well as Danny's, Jean threw a wave of fire at him. The flames danced and burned before trying to absorb into his wounds as if it were dry wood. He screamed at the incredible pain and rage that it made him feel.

Lifting his baseball bat over his head, he smashed it onto Jean's burned shoulder with all of his might. She gave a wail and disappeared.

Danny cussed under his breath, trying to get up. He had to destroy Royce, even if he felt like he had a concussion from hitting the floor – if he didn't stop the bastard, the other ghosts would just tear each other apart in the house while Dan went on to terrorize the world.

While he struggled, Royce stormed towards him.

Then he tripped. Jimmy held onto Royce's ankles as if his life were depending on it. The furious teen pushed himself off the ground and rolled over so that he could stomp his feet against the dismembered body, who proved to be both highly tolerant to the pain as well as fairly limber, using arm strength to push himself around so that many of the attacks actually missed altogether, all while never letting go of his captive. His head, having rolled back near its body, yelled, "Stop! Stop it!"

"Get off of me, you retarded Italian!" Royce snarled, swinging his bat with one hand and landing it on Jimmy's shoulder.

There was a crunching sound and the arm went limp as Jimmy let go, losing his grip on Royce. His head groaned and whimpered, "Help me…"

"I've got ya, Jimmy!" Danny grabbed the back of Royce's shirt collar and threw him aside so that he stood between the two wraiths.

Royce recovered quickly. "You're seriously gonna defend that weak thing, aren't ya?"

Danny scowled at him. "Well, someone has to protect the defenseless from jerks like you… and I hate to say it, but the world is gonna be _way_ better once you're gone."

The two lunged at one another, roaring their rage as they clashed. Danny grabbed Royce's wrist and slammed it against a wall. Dropping his baseball bat as a liability, Royce clubbed Danny with a fist and followed it up with a sweeping kick.

As soon as his back hit the floor, Danny's elbow crashed into one of Royce's calves with everything that the halfa had. Royce yelped and crumbled to his knees as the muscle cramped. Danny used the opportunity to grab Royce and slam him into the ground, crawling on his back and slamming his enemy back down several more times.

After a couple of bounces of his face off the floor, Royce had a split second of clarity, which he used to throw his arms up and stop another slam into the runes. He bucked his back upwards and slammed Danny into a wall, throwing him off.

He got to his feet and stood over his victim. "Ya put up a good fight for a nerd, but you're still just half a ghost, _kid."_

Royce pulled back an energy-infused fist, but before he could blast Danny into unconsciousness, two arms hooked under his, their hands grabbing the back of his neck and pushing his back forward into a painful arch.

"Hey, Danny! Up 'n' at 'em, ghost boy!" Danny looked up to see a stranger holding Royce in place. He was wearing a loud, obnoxious suit, slicked-back hair tied in a ponytail as lively green eyes glared at the dark teen spitefully. "I got a buddy to meet on the other side. Let's put this jerk out! Aim for the weak spot!"

Weak spot? Danny looked at the side of Royce's face that was chewed up by road rash. He recalled Royce's baseball bat colliding with Jean's burned shoulder, causing her to disappear. Jimmy hadn't disappeared when met with the same attack.

"Weak spot. Got it." Frowning deeply, Danny pulled back an energy-infused fist. "See you in hell, Royce."

Royce seethed, eyes betraying fear. "Fuckin' nerds…"

As soon as the blast hit his open wound, Royce began to shriek in pain. The smell of burning flesh permeated the air as he fell to his knees, now bleeding profusely. As Jimmy and Danny each stepped back, what little, shredded flesh remained was dissolved by an invisible force, exposing bone and, eventually, tearing that up as well.

After three solid minutes of agony, Royce fell over, half of his body completely gone as if some murderous eraser had attacked him. His remaining eye looking around fearfully, his body was set aglow, and he disappeared.

Danny stared. "Why…?"

"Hey, whether damned or absolved, the light still comes to get ya." Jimmy took a step forward and, after a moment of sizing the teen up, stuck out a hand. "Thanks for helpin' me, Danny-boy."

"Uh… you're welcome?" Danny shook his hand, only to be pulled into the ever-popular 'bro hug' as Jimmy used his other hand to pat Danny's back.

Stepping away, Jimmy shrugged. "Hey, a moment of being helped was all it took to pull me out of that funk." He looked at his watch – a knock off Rolex. "I gotta go. Hopefully, Larry's on the other side, too. I gotta say sorry for gettin' him mixed up in my mess. I'll see ya 'round, Danny-boy… Take care of the mom-figure, alright?"

As Jimmy also disappeared, throwing Danny a lop-sided grin, the teen felt some of the guilt of Billy's misguided awakening lifted from his shoulders. Jimmy seemed happy to be going into the unknown without being thrown through the proverbial meat-grinder; it was definitely the better way to go out.

"Later, Jimmy…" Danny mumbled as he found himself alone. He let out a sigh, wondering if Sam and Tucker were alright on the outside. Dan didn't seem like the sort to multi-task, since Danny never mastered doing anything else when watching movies… That was essentially what this was for the evil ghost, wasn't it?

Two arms wrapped around his shoulders. Danny went cold when he saw the tie around a wrist. In his ear, Susan cooed, "My hero."

The clock chimed again.

**=^o_o^=**

My, that was action-packed, wasn't it? I'm not so sure that the fight scenes were acceptable to you, but they definitely showed an improvement in my ability to write them! Then again, I started writing fanfiction about, oh… 10 years ago, when Dragon Ball Z was popular. Cell Saga, if I remember correctly.

Those were innocent times.

Nyaa.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:**I don't own Thir13en Ghosts, Danny Phantom, only own this plot, blah blah blah ANGST CHAPTER.

NYAA.

**=^o_o^=**

**Chapter 5**

Crud. Not another one… Not when he'd finally helped a few cross over, and knocked out Royce!

"We've gotta get out of here. With another one coming…" Danny pushed Susan off of him, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Susan, right? Do you know where Jean is?"

She smiled flirtatiously, a tactic the young gaming nerd was unaccustomed to dealing with. "You want to protect me."

"Well… yeah. I'm the good guy." Gulping mentally, he let go of her and took a step back. "I'm trying to free you along with the others. I need to know what there is to know about this next ghost." He looked at her hopefully. "Do _you_ know anything?"

Susan opened her mouth, then paused, shut her mouth, and frowned as if she were angry. "She's naked."

Danny stared at her. "…What?"

Suddenly, there was a shooting pain as a knife stabbed into Danny's shoulder. He screamed and reflexively swung his ecto-infused fist back into a soft, skinny body, which slammed into the wall and slumped. He turned to give the ghost a furious glare, then yelped in embarrassment and quickly looked up at the ceiling.

Susan was right. It was a naked woman.

"Bitch!" Danny cried out in pain as Susan ripped the butcher knife from Danny's shoulder and dove at the new ghost with a murderous look in her eyes. "Back off, whore! He's _mine!"_

"Your _what?!"_ Danny watched, bug-eyed, as the two women grappled. Soon he found he was trying to watch the scene through his fingers, unable to look at the undressed, butchered woman. It felt wrong – like he'd walked into the bathroom without knocking.

Susan yelled as a hand grabbed the tie that forever choked her and _pulled._ Her death scar was agitated; she dropped the knife and started convulsing. The more powerful wraith rolled so that she straddled the teenaged dead girl, then grabbed the knife and raised it over her head.

Danny thanked God Almighty that the ghost now had her back turned to him. Lunging forward, he hooked his arms under hers and instinctively placed his palms on the back of her head before hoisting her up and dragging her off of Susan. The young woman thrashed and screamed, trying to get back at the younger girl.

"Susan?!" The teen boy grunted as he tried to keep a hold of the madwoman. "Are you okay?!"

"Dana, calm down!" With a slight wheeze, Jean was beside him, placing one of her palms on the younger woman's forehead. Dana was reduced to a sigh, her body going lax. "I see you've met Dana. She's the Angry Princess."

"Why is she naked?!" Dan's hysterical laughter could be heard over the intercom.

"She killed herself in a bathtub. Cutting, as you can see." Jean lifted her eyes to Danny's and she realized that he was staring anywhere else. "Danny, please! This is serious!"

"I'm only fourteen, okay?!" Danny cried, trying not to drop Dana as he involuntarily attempted to flail.

Dana's lower lip trembled for a moment before she screamed and lashed out, knocking Jean aside and throwing Danny off of her. She twisted and tackled him to the ground. Before she could get a proper grip on his collar, Dana was ripped off of Danny by Susan, who grabbed a handful of the other's hair.

"Back off, you cougar! He's a minor!" Susan shrieked, tossing Dana aside before lunging towards the opponent.

Danny stared at the ceiling, heart ready to explode out of his chest. "This isn't happening."

"Congrats, Danny-boy! I think I'm actually _jealous_ of you!" Dan cackled.

"Focus, Danny! We need to get these two away from each other!" Jean commanded, pulling the boy to his feet.

Behind her, Dana slammed Susan into a wall with an enraged scream and boxed her in the ear.

"Cradle-robber! Soulless banshee! _Hag!"_ Susan screamed while trying to claw Dana's face.

She shoved Dana to the floor as the elder ghost stared ahead, her black eyes wide. Hag. The word bounced around in her head. Hag. She was ugly. Hideous. Deformed and imperfect. _Hag, hag, hag…_

"Susan!"

Jean's warning wouldn't have done any good if it had been even a moment sooner; Dana leapt to her feet in a surge of raw, angry power and she grabbed Susan by the collar and shoulders of her prom dress so that she could better slam the young teen against the runic wall time and again.

Finally, Danny jumped into action. Trying to steel his shaky nerves, he dove forward. "Dana, _no!"_

Dana threw Susan onto the ground and stood over her, knife reappearing in her hand. Her pointless breathing came in haggard, livid shudders that shook her body. Hag. She was a hag, but this little brat had no right. _No right!_

A pair of firm hands grabbed Dana by the shoulders and spun her around. She glared at Danny in bewilderment, but froze and turned doe-eyed to find his eyebrows knitting together. Was he angry? Was he angry at her? She must have done something wrong. She was always doing something wrong. That's what every boyfriend she'd ever had had always told her, anyway…

Danny took a deep breath, making sure not to look down. It was a little unnerving just looking into those dark, pitch black eyes that were so devoid of life, but he felt it was better than the alternative. Plus, now she was calm… well, calm-_ish;_ she seemed almost scared of him. He hoped he wasn't giving her any 'Dan'-vibes.

"I'm sorry." her voice was strangely delicate compared to what he'd been expecting. She started to tremble and her eyes got moist. "I-I didn't mean… I'm sorry? Don't… Don't be mad…"

His eyebrows rose and he took a step back. "Mad? I'm not… Look, just… You and Susan need to stop fighting, okay?"

Shakily, Dana nodded and looked down, bringing her hands together as the tears began rolling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry…"

Great. Crying. _Two _things he didn't know how to deal with when it came to women.

"Hey!" Susan grunted as she got to her feet and scowled at Dana. "What am I, chopped liver? Just cuz I'm not some pencil-thin _bimbo_ like shit-for-brains over here…"

"Susan, _stop it."_ Danny snapped as Dana clasped her hands over her ears and began sobbing, sliding to the floor. "Look at her. Does she look like she's trying to hurt you right now? Just leave her alone and let me _think!"_

Susan puffed up, sticking out her lower lip before crossing her arms and stamping a foot against the floor. She looked away.

Beside her, Jean sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "He's not mad at you, he's just a little stressed. Don't be upset. He just wants to help you both."

"Well, whatever. As long as she goes away _soon."_ Susan glared daggers in Dana's direction. "He's _my _boyfriend, got it?!"

"_Ohhh,_ tainted _love…"_

"Shut up, Dan!" Danny all-but snarled at the ceiling. He was rewarded with another cackle.

"Dana." Jean knelt next to the quivering young woman. "It's okay. He's not like the men you knew in the past."

"What… What kind of men did she know in the past…?" Danny was almost afraid to ask.

"Dana was addicted to cosmetic surgery because everyone in her life emphasized how beautiful she was." Jean tried to explain, only to have Dana butt in: "I'm not pretty."

Jean sighed and looked at Danny meaningfully. "Her luck in love was bad. She attracted men who took advantage of her weak spirit by telling her that she wasn't attractive enough, or they would just belittle her in general. _That's_ why she committed suicide."

Danny frowned, then glared at nothing as he thought about it. "…Well, that's a real dump of a deal. Guys like that are jerks! Total losers who use women like her cuz… cuz… they're innocent! Like a Disney princess or something!"

"Aw, Danny. Are you mad that you missed your daily showing of Cinderella?" Dan mused over the intercom.

"Shut up!" Danny dropped to his knees and grabbed Dana by the shoulders. "Look, I'm sorry that you got stuck with a bunch of crappy ex-boyfriends, okay? But we're not like that – not _all_ of us. You're pretty, alright? You're _beautiful,_ even if you are a little rough around the edges right now."

"Liar." she hissed almost psychotically, tears stinging her eyes. "You can't even bear to look at the rest of me!"

"Because your body isn't all that counts!" – _"Fag!"_ Dan yelled. – "Look, those jerk-wads were attracted to you because you were innocent, and you cared about them enough to try changing yourself just to make them happy. Truth is, you shouldn't have had to have changed! If they had _really_ cared about you, they would have loved you just the way you are, whether you had… I dunno, freckles, acne… a third arm growing out of your shoulder that never quite developed? You get the point, right?"

Dana stared at him for a moment, then quietly gave a little giggle.

Encouraged, Danny sighed and smiled, relaxing as he leaned back to sit his butt on his feet. "See? That's how you should feel all the time when you're with someone who cares about you. Love isn't about taking from the other person. It's about giving. Get it? Someone I care about taught me that." He felt his cheeks tingle as he rubbed the back of his neck. "She's… She's, like, a really good friend of mine 'n' stuff…"

"A girlfriend?" Dana looked at him with her big, glossy eyes.

"Yeah… er, no! I mean… sort of…? It's kinda hard to explain, really…" Danny's face began turning a fascinating shade of reddish-hot pink.

She gazed at him for a long moment, tilting her head to one side. The gears were turning in her head.

There was a brilliant glow from her all of a sudden. She changed from a soaked, unhappy-looking slasher's dummy into a willowy, awkward-yet-cute-looking blonde with glasses wearing, of all things, a green turtleneck and a purple skirt. It was a far cry from the supermodel she had once been, but it was her original body… and she _was_ pretty stunning.

Danny stared, unable to think of anything intelligent to say. Dana blushed a little and smiled, leaning forward and kissing his cheek.

"You should tell her how you feel, before your guys' chance is gone…"

"…Huh?" Danny turned to look at her, but she was gone. Still a little bewildered, he looked at Jean. She looked like she was proud of him, smiling as she leaned against her IV.

Susan was another story. "Did… Did you just _kill_ her?!"

"Wh-What?! No! I helped her!" Danny exclaimed, shocked at the accusation.

"Why did she disappear, then?! What did you _do?!" _Susan backed up. The moment that Dana had calmed down, just before transforming and ascending, she had completely faded in the wraith's limited vision. Unlike Jean, Susan had no one attaching her to the world of mortals.

"No! Susan, please, just _listen…"_ Jean tried to say, but the girl just shook her head and stared at the woman fearfully.

"You! You _helped_ him! You just… You just stood there, and let him kill her! What was it? Some sort of spell? An incantation, like these fucked-up walls?!" Susan looked around at the glass walls in question as if just realizing that she was surrounded with no means of escape. "No… No, I won't be killed by a guy who _says_ that they care about me! Not a second time!"

She knocked them both back with a wave of energy as she disappeared, retreating to the safety of the basement.

Danny sat up and looked at Jean, trying to help her into a sitting position as well. "Jean… what just happened?"

Dan made a decent suggestion: "Bitch is trippin'."

* * *

Susan curled up in a corner of her cell down in the basement. She actually wished that it would magically shut and lock her inside again, if only to keep her attackers out. Memories of being choked by her fiancé flashed through her mind, forcing tears from her eyes as she hugged her knees and began rocking.

"_Please, please, please…"_ She prayed to whatever it was that was listening in the universe; she couldn't be sure anymore, since her last few years of life hadn't exactly focused on her spiritual health. She was too busy dating one boy and then cheating on him with another, all the while trying to find the one _good_ man who could fix her.

Maybe that's exactly what she had found in her killer.

The clock chimed twice, making her jump and look around to see if her cell would close up. It didn't. She sniffled and started crying some more, wallowing in self-pity. All she had ever wanted was a nice guy…

"What's wrong, little harlot?"

Susan looked up with tear-stained cheeks to see two women and a tall, heavyset man in a diaper. One of the women was a mere three feet tall, and the other had her wrists and neck locked in a stockade, like the pictures she'd seen in her history books.

She wiped her eyes angrily. "I'm not a whore!"

"Harlot isn't the same as whore, dear." the little woman piped up. Then she gave a squeak. "Where are my manners? I'm Maggy, and this is my son, Harold! Say hello, Harold."

Harold grunted unintelligibly.

"My name is Isabella." the crone in the stocks said. "I was once a free spirit like you. I danced naked beneath the moon… Until those bastards mistook an Indian curse for my magic." She hissed at the memory. "Served them right, too! That's why I made a deal with the natural spirits… Sent every last man, woman and _bastard_ offspring to their quaint little version of _Hell,_ I did. Oh, they're still writhing and screaming down there, I imagine. They weren't very bright, you know."

"A bunch of gypsies tied me in a sack and smothered _me."_ Margaret sighed, then smiled up at her son. "But my dear Harold fixed them up good, he did…"

Harold smiled a little, eerily. "Heh… Heheh… _Timber…"_ The hand holding the axe twitched.

Susan stared at them, resisting the urge to vomit. These wraiths were disgusting, especially the fat ass in the smelly diaper; he was probably wallowing about in his own shit. However, she recognized that they were a lot stronger than she was, even individually.

She wiped a couple of tears from her cheeks. "There's someone trying to kill us."

**=^-.-^=**

Okay, so maybe not angst chapter so much as "poor, naked Dana" and "HILARIOUS DAN" chapter. I'm allowed to be wrong. I call it 'paraphrasing'.

Nyaa.

Anyway, who else agrees with Dan's opinion of Susan? Poor, confused wraiths and their lack of making sense of what they're _really_ seeing. Oh well, who knows what'll happen to her at this point? She may be saved, like Dana and the others… or she may go out the way of Royce. Hmmm.

Nyaa.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I own _nothing! NOTHING!_ Doom, doom, doom – _GDI, INVADER ZIM!_

_NYAA!_

**=^ò****_****ó^=**

**Chapter 6**

"Susan? Susan!"

"Danny, I know you want to help her, but you should be more worried about yourself right now. The three ghosts who've been released are very emotionally and mentally unstable." Jean pointed out as she persistently followed Danny. The movement caused her mild pain, but her instincts refused to let the young man leave her sight.

The halfa noticed. "They could attack her, though, right? Let me find her – you should go somewhere where you'll be safe."

"Almost certainly." Jean conceded. "However, I will not. Besides, the ghosts are more likely to attack you because you're still _alive._ If it comes right down to it, a wraith will always attack a living human over another wraith, even though our instinct is to attack the most violent entity we come across; part of us recognizes that we cannot kill eachother, but that is most certainly not the case with _you."_ There was a moment of silence. "…I _am _going to continue following you. Just because I can still feel the pain of my death wounds doesn't mean I'm going to stop and fester when the pain becomes too much."

At this, Danny sighed loudly and stopped, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "Jean, _please!_ I fight ghostly supervillains all the time – I can handle a few angry ghosts."

"Pissed-off wraiths." Dan corrected over the intercom. _"Much_ more volatile."

The Withered Lover shook her head. "But you allow yourself to get injured when you think there's a chance of saving a soul who could easily and _gladly_ kill you."

"She's right, Danny-boy! I mean, we both know the only reason you really dug into Royce was because he was a Dash-centric dick."

Danny frowned and looked at the intercom. "I did _not_ attack Royce because of that! He was hurting innocent, confused souls for the fun of it – even Dash wouldn't do that!"

"Really?" The fanged grin could be heard in Dan's face. "Think about it: an aggressive jock bullies those weaker than himself, then hits your Sam-like girlfriend-stalker-bitch, and you _instantly _flipped shit and shot him in the face at point-blank range. That's an awful lot of rage, kiddo. I should know!"

A dirty look etched its way deeply into Danny's features, but he pointedly ignored Dan. He refused to believe that that was why he had attacked Royce. He had done it to protect the others… right?

Jean opened her mouth to tell Danny not to let Dan's words affect him when a malevolent chill shocked through her. Without a second thought, she grabbed Danny by the shoulders and threw him aside. Danny yelped and grunted as he hit a wall.

An axe embedded itself in Jean's chest.

Harold frowned angrily. "Huh… Missed?"

"Get the boy, Harold! The boy!" Margaret screamed, appearing behind him.

Danny's eyes bugged as they tried to register the image of Jean as she was lifted by the axe, Harold trying to shake her off. She hiccupped some black, ectoplasmic blood and faded away. A cold nausea gripped the boy's stomach.

He barely noticed the round-bellied man-child turn to him. "Hold still this time."

Like a switch being flipped, as soon as Harold raised the axe, a white-haired Danny let loose a Ghostly Wail, eyes glowing hot neon green. Harold and Margaret were pushed back, him almost being knocked onto his mother before they went flying. As soon as the strain began making his throat raw, Danny stopped and flew at them, his fists radiating an angry, purple energy. He felt his mind demanding revenge.

Before he could stop himself or reign vengeance on the new ghosts, there was a high-pitched cackle and something wooden crashed into his side, knocking him into the main room of the house. He hit the marble floor and slid along for a while. He felt the ring appear around his waist and fought to remain in his ghost form. He would be too vulnerable as a human.

"Despicable child." Isabella floated towards him, eyes narrowed in a foul expression. "You certainly display the lunatic ferocity we were told about. Killing you will bring me incredible peace, just like the deaths of those Roanoke bastards."

"You're the murderers here. Not me." Danny hissed, forcing himself to his feet. He was aware of a new cut on his forehead. His red-and-green blood trickled down the side of his face. "Why else would someone as twisted as Dan pick you to be locked in here and totally fuck up my morals?!"

With that, Danny let loose the violet ray of ghost energy that he had managed to hold onto. Isabella was blasted in the face, singing her hair and knocking her backwards at an awkward angle for even a ghost's spine. As soon as he had unleashed the attack, he felt winded – he wasn't used to expending so much energy in one attack.

"Take this, you bastard!" Susan appeared behind Danny and bashed him over the head with surprising strength, knocking him to the ground. Before he knew it, she had jumped on top of him and wrapped her fingers around his throat. "I'm not gonna be the victim in your sick game again. This time, _you_ die!" she hissed, voice dripping with hot venom. "Hey, fat ass! Get over here and chop his face in half!"

"God, I can't believe I'm saying this, but… Dan was right! You're a damn _whack-job!"_ Danny grunted, trying to push her off. "Get off me!"

"Seriously – it looks like you're trying to rape him." Dan commented. "Don't you know he has a girlfriend? A hotter, _alive_ girlfriend that totally _isn't you?"_

"Shut up!" Susan shrieked, pouncing from Danny to beneath the nearest surveillance camera. She began pelting the rune-protected dome with her own ectoplasmic rays. "Shut up, shut up, _shut up, shut up SHUTUPSHUTUP__**SHUTUP!"**_

"Look out!" Margaret shrieked.

Susan turned to scream another command of silence at the tiny woman only to have Danny's fist crash into her face, making her disappear. "Sorry, Susan." he muttered. She would come back… and so would Jean.

He turned to scowl at the large Great Child as Harold ran towards him, roaring as he raised his axe overhead. Silently snarling, Danny held his breath and got ready. He would wait until the opponent was right on him, then duck under an arm – it would be easy, considering Harold's poor reaction time. He was like a rhino when it came to momentum versus dexterity.

At precisely the right moment, Danny did as he planned: he dove under Harold's arm, missing the swing by an inch. The smell was awful, but he was alive and unharmed. He gathered together enough energy to bring an end to the fight, much more energy than he had used to kill Royce.

"_Stay away from my baby!"_

Suddenly, Danny was blind. His arms clasped to his sides, unable to move as he dropped to his knees, choking for air. As he was forced back into his human form, he felt as though a massive weight were on his chest. He knew that there was nothing there, though; was this Isabella, or Margaret? He was too panicked to think about it.

"Get your hands off of him!" A loud _thump_ followed the sound of Jean's voice, heralding her arrival. Danny's sight returned in time for him to see Harold standing over him, axe raised once again.

Without thinking, he blasted the man across the room.

"Danny!" Jean was beside him, pulling him to his feet by one arm. "Are you alright?"

"What the hell did she _do_ to me?!" he demanded, wide-eyed as he looked around.

"Remember when Jimmy was trying to 'communicate' with you? When you said you heard and sort of _felt_ a chainsaw?" Danny felt the joint of his left elbow tingle as he nodded. Jean grimaced. "Margaret was stuffed in a sack and sat upon. When Harold found her body, he went on a psychopathic rampage."

"_Timber!"_ Danny reflexively shoved Jean backwards, saving her from getting a chop in the skull.

"Why won't you just _die already?!"_ Susan had recovered in record time, leaping onto Danny's back and grabbing at his face from behind, trying to obscure his vision.

"You!" Margaret pointed at the teen girl menacingly. "How _dare_ you insult my child! Harold, chop the whore's legs off – she needs to be knocked _down_ a peg!"

"Bad lady!" Harold lunged to do his mother's bidding. He caught Susan by the hair with one hand, and, ripping her off of Danny's back, got ready to bash her face in.

"No…!" Thinking faster than he'd ever needed to before, Danny leapt over and landed hard on Margaret. He picked her up by the throat and turned. _"Hey! Harold!"_

The Great Child looked over and raised an eyebrow. "…Uh…? Mommy?"

"Say good-bye." Danny lifted her up over his head and smashed her tiny body into the ground.

She didn't disappear. Instead she started gasping and whimpering while she writhed on the ground. Her eyes bulged as if they were trying to escape from their sockets.

"Mommy?" Harold dropped Susan and lumbered over. Danny hopped back, ready for the attack.

Harold ignored him in favor of dropping next to his mother. He picked up Margaret's small body in his large, pudgy hands. For a moment he looked like a real infant trying to gingerly mimic cradling a doll.

Margaret stared up at him, trying to catch a breath that refused to come to her. Weakly, she brought a hand to his face. Her baby. Her pride, her joy. The only person who had been truly kind to her in her life and, ironically, the one who towered over her the most.

"I love you, honey." she whispered softly.

Then, she vanished.

Danny stared, dumbstruck. He hadn't expected her to actually die – he had thought she'd be much stronger, but she wasn't. He… He had just made a son hold his own mother _as she died._ He felt nauseous and cruel; he had done something that _Dan_ would do.

He heard the madman's low chuckle, but not over the intercom. It was completely his imagination.

Dan had managed to get inside his head.

"…I…"

Danny snapped out of his self-pity as Harold started to cry.

"I… Mommy…" The oversized child began blubbering loudly. "I want my Mommy!"

"I'm… I'm sorry!" Danny couldn't help himself. "I didn't mean… I didn't think that that would _kill_ her! I thought she would just do that… that disappear-reappear thing that the other ghosts did!"

Harold scowled at him, tears coursing down his face. He was furious. _"I'll kill you, gypsy! Bad gypsy!"_ Moving quicker than he had before, Harold took his axe back up and barreled at Danny, screaming in rage.

"Danny! Aim for his throat!" Jean screamed.

Susan scowled from her place on the floor. "Fat ass has a _neck_ under all that flab?"

Acting on Jean's order, Danny whipped a brightly-glowing ball of ectoplasm at Harold. It hit the target and a rope immediately appeared. With a snap, the Great Child flew back- and upwards, dropping his axe as his chubby fingers tried to tear away the rope.

"Muh… Mommy…!" he gargled, tears still working their way from his eyes – now with a secondary reason. They burned as they relived his death event. _"Mommy…!"_

He stopped struggling. His hands fell to his sides as his head rolled forward and his body went limp.

Like the Torn Prince and his Dire Mother before him, the Great Child vanished.

**=^ó****n****ò^=**

I want to be honest: I hated the Dire Mother and the Great Child. I really, really did. I hated their gypsy-hating backstory, I hated their gross "Margaret overfed Harold and he choked on his own vomit then squished her" _alternative_ backstory, and I hated the clichéd axe-murderer and psycho mama vibe/method they personified.

Yet I still feel bad for a child who has to watch its mother die. It doesn't matter the age, their morality, or even how I feel about them personally – that's just a tragic event.

Nyaa.

Well, Isabella will be back in the next one along with more, scarier ghosts!

Nyaa! *puffs up and runs away*


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or canon-plot details of Danny Phantom _or_ Thir13en Ghosts. Just the original stuff that is uniquely found here.

Nyaa.

**=^o.o^=**

**Chapter 7**

Shortly after the Great Child vanished, Danny remembered the Pilgrimess was still lurking around. Quickly, he whipped around, keeping his back to the walls. For once, he was glad that they had runes etched into them. That meant they were solid defense, like a tortoise's shell.

"Oh, look – the brat's _learning!_ Maybe there's hope for me yet." Dan mocked.

Jean took up residence beside the young halfa. "You're doing good, Danny." she told him, her voice low to escape their captor's detection.

"Good? I've _killed…_ er, re-killed… three people! I mean, sure, maybe Royce had it coming for what a jerk he was, but those last two could have just had… I dunno… lack of air circulation to their brains or something…?"

"The word you're looking for is _retard,_ retard!" Dan barked. "And what's with this _'maybe'_ Royce deserved it? He was a jock, and he was a jerk, both of which begin and end with the same letters, so they can't be a good combination. He totally had it coming! You're in the clear for taking the afterlife of a bitter young soul – whose rage was almost completely justified, by the way, seeing as he _was_ murdered and all in life!"

The guilt trip managed to peg Danny a bit, but he shook his head and dismissed it. He could worry about Dan congratulating him another time.

"Trying to pity the deaths of Harold and Margaret for their mental incapacities is redundant for just that very reason – having a mental impairment in life translates to close-mindedness as a wraith. You could have spoken to them for _hours_ without hope of converting them to goodness… hm?"

Jean was cut off as Susan stormed over to them, fury burning in her eyes. Danny turned around… just in time to get slapped. Dumbstruck, he touched his stinging cheek and stared at her in confusion. "…I _saved _you!"

"I didn't _say_ you could save me! I saw you kill the naked bitch, which means that you don't get to be _nice_ to me!" she screamed, then slapped him a second time.

"For last time, Susan – _I didn't kill Dana!" _Danny caught her wrist as she attempted a third strike. "Dammit, _why won't you fucking listen?!"_

"Because I hate you!" Susan shrieked, kicking at him now. He tried to step out of her way and ultimately resorted to butting his forehead into hers, stunning her.

"Jeez! You know what? I am totally _never_ having a fantasy about a popular girl _again_ because of you!" Danny pushed her back and threw up his hands. "You're crazy! You attack people who are trying to help you and hurt people who care because you think the _sun_ shines out of your _ass!_ You might think you're being covert about this, but guess what – I know you want me to attack you. You cheated on your fiancé and he killed you, so maybe you're dwelling on the stuff you did wrong in life and want to be taken out the painful way. Whatever the reason, I officially _do not care!_ I _refuse_ to attack you, so come back when you've dislodged the stick from your ass!"

Susan's eyes were round. Whether she was still stunned from the head-butt or newly stunned from the sudden outpour of grousing from Danny was anyone's guess.

"Ye oughtn't worry about the opinions of men; they are the weaker of the species."

Danny jumped to attention and turned as a fireball smashed into his chest. He coughed as the inferno sank into his ribcage, burning with an obnoxious intensity. It felt as if it were infecting his very Core – his _ice_ core. He sputtered some water. That couldn't be a good sign.

"Danny!" Jean turned pale as he fell to his knees, coughing as his lungs began filling up with water. She stepped between Isabella and Danny as the Pilgrimess appeared in the room, drifting slowly towards the group with an eerie grin spread across her face. "I swear to God, if you touch a single hair on his head…"

"You cannot hope to stand up to me, dearie; ye are _far_ below myself and my power." The weathered old crone bared her snaggled teeth as her grin widened. "Ye have no idea how _delicious_ it was, causing misery to those who hated me for my beliefs. After a lifetime of doing harm to no one? I can see why so many of your kind believe in evil – it is an _amazing_ stress-reliever…"

"I have nothing against other religions, but 'my kind' believe in evil because people as dark as you walk the earth." Jean spat, trying to buy Danny a minute. She glanced to the side. Susan had vanished; they were alone. Jean could only pray that Isabella didn't hurl another fireball – she didn't know if she would have the reflexes to block it in time.

"Git bark…!" The gurgling was barely recognizable as words, but before she realized it, Danny had grabbed Jean by the arm and pulled her behind him. Focusing as best he could with his sense of drowning, the boy opened his mouth wide, water positively pouring from his throat, and forced out a Ghostly Wail as best as he could.

The result was something akin to a small typhoon. Isabella shrieked as she was thrown back into one of the rattling, rune-etched glass walls and pinned there. She could feel herself deteriorating at a rapid rate, as if she were reliving her death in extreme fast-forward. The resulting pain, while brief by comparison, was also much more intense and debilitating than merely succumbing to the elements in the stockades had been. In attacking Danny Phantom with an opposing element, she had given him the temporary status of _force of nature – _the very thing that had killed her.

Danny fell face-first into the floor, head spinning, as his voice finally gave out. He hadn't even had the wherewithal to go ghost, and that was obviously a bad choice, but he didn't regret it. He was alive. He was no longer drowning in his own melted ice element. On top of everything, Jean was okay.

"Danny? Danny!" He felt her roll him onto his back and begin shaking his shoulders. He grunted as light beamed onto his face, turning his head away. "Danny, don't you _dare_ give in right now! Please. We still need you to survive!"

"What's with this 'we'?" Dan taunted the distraught woman. "You're already dead. You've already lost your children by _dying_ in a fire, remember? Oh, wait – let me guess; it's different watching the _kid_ die instead, right? What's the matter, Jean? Thinking of your precious _baby boy?"_

"Shut up." Jean hissed, trembling in pain. The thought brought her torture, but, yes, as a ghost obsessed over her family, she had imprinted on Danny as one of her own. She could never be with her own family. They were alive. That was why she maintained a measure of sanity without ascending.

It still killed her to watch 'her' child near death.

Danny suddenly let out a loud gasp, his icy Core making a comeback with a vengeance. He sat bolt upright and hugged himself, teeth chattering, as he experienced an entirely-new event: his 'ghost' tissue rebuilding itself at an accelerated rate. It felt like part of his heart had been ripped out, and now it was growing back with the addition of ice-cold _pins and needles_ jabbing into the surrounding _living_ tissue. His internal body temperature plummeted to a point that would kill a normal human.

Jean placed a hand to his forehead as Danny turned pale, lips growing purple. After a moment, she gave a small sigh of relief and smothered him in a hug. Danny didn't fight it; she was warmer than he was right now.

"Did you see the white light, Danny?" Dan mused, although some level of disappointment could be heard in his voice.

Danny didn't answer as the clock chimed. He just wanted to go home.

"Come on, Danny." Jean stood up and pulled him to his feet. "Come on." she repeated, pulling him along. "We need to hide while you heal."

"Heal?" he croaked, trying to stay his chattering teeth. He ended up biting his cheek and winced.

"Yes. Your body is _healing_ right now – and I might add rather miraculously-so." Jean looked around before pulling Danny into a bedroom before its entryway was sealed with one of the shifting walls. They would be trapped in the locked room, but they would be safe until the next chime of the clock. "Here. Lie down."

"N-No." Danny's head felt fuzzy and jittery at the same time. "Can't stay. G-Gotta keep m-m-moving."

"You've already got ghostly aspirations. Now _down."_ With surprising strength, Jean threw Danny into the bed and quickly bundled him up in the blanket. He tried to kick for a moment, but found his body didn't want to move and had to give up as he was swaddled like an oversized infant. "I dun feel good."

"I know you don't." Jean patted his shoulder sympathetically before placing both palms on the blanket. "Now relax. I need to focus."

Unlike other ghosts, wraiths didn't have a natural inclination towards any specific element in their Core – Isabella only wielded them at all because she had been a practicing Witch in life. However, they had trace amounts if they were killed in an appropriate way, with the drawback being that they were also highly susceptible to the same element in large doses.

She breathed in deeply, and upon exhale was able to transfer some measure of heat into the rolled-up blanket. It was snuffed out by the cold Danny's body was giving off now, but a second gentle wave came in time to replace it, followed by a third and a fourth.

Danny didn't notice any of it, though. He had slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

Danny woke up to a loud crash. His eyes shot open, but he found himself unable to move. At first he thought he might be paralyzed until he recalled that he had been bundled up before falling asleep. He didn't even _remember_ falling asleep, but, man, he was so… cozy…

There was another crash and he sat upright. Beside him, Jean had crossed her arms and laid her head to rest on the bed's edge, though she wasn't asleep.

"It's just George, Danny. He found us about ten minutes ago."

"George?" Danny frowned and looked about.

His eyes turned wide as he saw the ghost that had been released, which he could only describe as an African-American version of _Hellraiser's_ Pinhead on steroids, and with _railroad spikes_ instead of _needles._ As the man on the other side of the glass rose an arm to thump against the wall again, Danny cheerlessly noted another difference – one of the man's hands had been chopped off and replaced with a sledgehammer.

"He… uh… I'm not gonna be able to 'bring him to his senses' the nice way, am I?"

"No, you're not." Jean sat up and sighed sadly as she looked at the man waiting to gain entry. "George is known as the Hammer." – Danny bit his cheek hard to keep from making any 'Hammer time' pop-offs. – "He lived in the 'Old West' era, while railroads were still being built everywhere. He was accused of stealing, and the accuser got a posse who went to his home while George was at his smithy. They raped, hanged and burned his wife and two daughters."

"_What?!"_ Danny heaved as he felt the urge to throw up.

"Shit just got real for Danny." Dan commented.

"Suffice it to say, George wanted revenge." Jean continued, "And he got it. He killed those who had murdered his family, but… well, racism was still strong, even in the West, and his was the only 'colored' family in a small white town. What you see before you is what happened to him before he was chained to a tree and died."

"That happened while he was _alive?"_ Danny hadn't taken his eyes off of George as the wraith scowled inside. Sure, no one deserved to die in any of the ways _these_ ghosts had, but there was something so much more horrific about the Hammer's circumstance. His was so much more _unjust._ "Why… Why do you say I won't be able to reason with him?"

"Because he hates white people for the events leading up to and including his murder. They killed him in such a horrible way because of his skin color." Jean pointed out. "During that time, had a white man done the same thing to a white posse, he would have been seen as justified; had it been a white man to a _black_ posse, it would have even been seen as empowering, even. To him, it's still a time of great racial segregation. Revenge is what fuels him. Revenge is what blinds him. Like the last two ghosts to be released, he is mad in his own right."

Danny stared at the angry ghost as he flickered in and out of sight momentarily, eyes fixed on the young halfa with a look of murderous intent. "The last two are stronger than this guy…?"

"They are a psychopath and sociopath, respectively; the Jackal, Ryan, and the Juggernaut, Horace." Jean sighed. "I suppose that I should tell you about them now, so you can try to plan your defense or attack."

"Yeah… Defense." Danny felt like a part of his heroic persona was dying. He didn't want to dispatch any more of these ghosts, but perhaps they were more like Ryan and Isabella than Harold and Margaret. Perhaps there was some evil in them, so that he could convince himself that it was self-defense, or good for the world at large – anything to let him sleep at night, which he wasn't sure he could do otherwise.

"The Jackal's name is Ryan, and he used to be the son of a prostitute in the late 1800's. He gained a disease that made him attack women – usually prostitutes like his mother, although the occasional deviance wandered into his path, like stray animals or runaways."

"So he was a bad guy, right?" Danny cut her off, hope faint in his voice.

Jean shook her head sadly. "He tried to get himself treatment at an asylum, but they just caged him… literally, after he began chewing through a straightjacket they kept him buckled up in. To keep him from escaping and hurting the staff and other patients, they put his head in a cage. One night a fire broke out, but by that time, Ryan was far too much like an animal, especially in that he feared and hated humans above all else. He… He decided he would rather take his chances in the fire and perished."

"What about the other one? The… The Juggernaut?"

"Horace… well, he was ostracized as a child for his tall stature and inability to empathize with others. His father decided to isolate him from a bullying world rather than teach him how to get along with people, so Horace grew up working in a junkyard, where he could break apart machinery with his own hands. After his father died, he upgraded to hitchhikers, and eventually died in a police shootout. It took so much time and ammo to bring Horace down that one officer unloaded an entire clip into his forehead… 'just to be safe'." Jean rubbed the back of her neck tiredly. "I wish I could lie and tell you that these ghosts used to be villainous, or naturally evil, but… it's just not true. Things were done to them that just twisted them the wrong way and _made_ them what they are. There's a reason wraiths are notorious spirits to get rid of, even among the dead community – they were either born or driven mad in life."

Danny put his head in his hands. Maybe Dan would continue not to press the damn button that set the clock off. Maybe he could just stay in here forever, and rot in his own misery. But what about Jean, then, trapped in this box with eviler, stronger creatures than herself? What about his friends and family outside in the world? Even that pompous billionaire Vlad was counting on him to get out and hunt Dan down. Strange how the situation made him see even his archenemy in a new light – that made things _really_ unfair.

"Alright." he said softly, getting to his feet. "Alright. I know what I have to do." Eyes glowing angry green, he scowled at the nearest camera. "Go ahead, Dan! Push the fucking button!"

Dan chuckled darkly. "Good to see you're growing up, Danny-boy."

**=^T_T^=**

The dark times cometh, and so nears the end. You could officially call this the final arc! …I'm sorry.

Nyaa.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Thir13en Ghosts or Danny Phantom copyrights. I'm just another fan of ghost-related stuff.

Nyaa.

**=^-.-^=**

**Chapter 8**

The wall shifted as soon as the grandfather clock chimed somewhere in the distance. Danny threw up a shield just in time to protect himself and Jean as George brought his sledgehammer down on them. The energy shield was broken immediately, and Danny caught a brawny, meaty fist with his _face._ He was knocked down on his side. Man, this guy could really pack a wallop…

Danny rolled onto his back and shrew up another shield as soon as he saw the sledgehammer coming down at him again. Jean attempted to blast George in the back. All the Hammer did was grunt and blast her backwards into a glass wall. She hit the rune etchings and fell to the ground, stunned. He'd barely used _anything_ to attack _her._

The large hand closed around Danny's neck and lifted him to George's shoulder height. The young halfa's feet dangled a good few inches off of the ground, and he limply didn't respond to the situation. Instead, he waited – waited for a chance, an opportunity to deal some _real_ damage.

George slowly brought his sledgehammer back over his head.

Danny's eyes snapped open and he grabbed the wrist as it came at his face, the metal hammer just a hair's width from smashing into his _nose._ The two of them struggled. The permanent scowl of the Hammer seemed to get even angrier, more menacing. Danny did the unthinkable.

Grabbing the bloody wood just beneath the iron head of the mallet, he jerked as hard as he could, freeing the weapon from its prison.

The wraith let out an enraged roar of pain. Danny thought his eardrums would burst, and had to fight to keep his wits about him. He had a job to do. While George was still snarling, Danny slammed the sledgehammer down on one of the railroad spikes protruding from the man's head.

George released him in shock, stumbling back a few steps. His lips bore back in an evil expression, somewhere in the middle of a snarl, a grimace and a curse. Danny stumbled back as well, requiring a little more focus to keep from landing on his backside. The hammer in his hands was even heavier than it looked – certainly more so than its owner had made it seem!

The two males paced. Danny's every sense was alive and paranoid, listening for Susan or the Jackal. Surely either one of them would be coming to weigh in on this fight, eager to see him dead. He couldn't let that happen. Not today, not in the Ghost Zone.

Danny yelled and rushed forward angrily, swinging the sledgehammer. It found a spike on George's shoulder and drove it further into his body. He snarled in pain and punched the teen in the face again, then followed up with a strike across Danny's face with his stump. There was a slight crunch from the first hit as Danny's nose broke, and he tasted the mixture of blood and ectoplasm on his top lip almost immediately.

He powered through the pain and swung the sledgehammer again. This time it landed across the Hammer's jaw, knocking the great man down. Danny hesitated briefly, bracing himself for what he was about to do. It left such a horrible taste in his mouth.

Then again, maybe that was the taste of his own life fluids.

Danny began bringing the sledgehammer down with reckless fury, slamming it against any railroad spike he could see. He did his best to block out George's grunts and cries of pain. He didn't have a choice – there was no other way to get rid of the wraith, to free himself and Jean! Danny tried desperately to keep that memo at the forefront of his mind, but it was so hard. He was attacking a man who had been punished for avenging his own family, for God's sake!

He lifted the hammer overhead with both hands, but as he swung down, both the wraith and the sledgehammer disappeared, having finally crossed over. Danny was thrown to his knees, curled in on himself. His entire body trembled, returning to its human form.

Throwing his head back, Danny let loose a wild shriek of rage – at Dan, at life, at anyone who would listen. Tears streamed down his cheeks, obscuring the grime and the blood; both Danny's and George's. The boy barely registered Jean's arms wrapping around his shoulders, all but bawling as she hugged the poor hero. He clung to her desperately, muffled screams escaping him. He hated Dan. He hated himself.

There was a cry somewhere. Danny recognized Susan's voice and his head snapped up instantly. He had to save her! It was the only way he could think of to balance the fact that he would have to fight the other two ghosts remaining to the death!

"Danny, wait!" Jean called as he scrambled to his feet and ran towards Susan's cries. He ignored her. He couldn't 'wait' for whatever it was that she had to say. He had to strike now, before his nerves deserted him!

"Susan!" Danny looked around as he ran through the glass hallways, making it to the central room of the house. Through a couple of walls, he saw them – the Jackal had pinned Susan beneath himself and was attacking her with his claw-like fingertips. Blood rushed in his ears. _"Get off of her!"_

He shot towards the two of them. Ryan didn't notice Danny until the human tackled him to the ground, throwing them _both_ off of the Bound Woman. Straddling the wraith's chest between his thighs, Danny grabbed a couple of the bars of the cage entrapping the Jackal's head and slammed it against the floor, shooting sparks as the runes reacted to the contact.

Ryan howled and lashed out, scratching one of Danny's cheeks as he slapped the boy sideways. It stunned Danny. How could the wraith harm him if they were in the Ghost Zone? He quickly passed by the thought, chalking it up to the power that the evil ghosts possessed, as he found himself being scratched up by the Jackal. When had Ryan gotten on top of _him?_

"Get the hell _off!"_ Danny threw up both hands and blasted Ryan in the face. While the Jackal was reeling from the attack, Danny switched back to his ghost form and took to the air, firing more blasts at his opponent. "It's _not – cool – to – attack – girls!"_

He fired a new attack between each word, some of which the wraith was able to divert away from itself. The last, however, wasn't an ecto-beam; it was Danny's fist, and it slammed into Ryan's teeth through the cage's opening. The jagged dental work cut up the boy's knuckles as much as it had hurt the Jackal. Danny found himself getting scratched up again as he was knocked back and pinned to a wall. Ryan's wildly-flailing arms prevented escape.

Danny let loose a Ghostly Wail, stopping it almost as suddenly. It was enough to daze the wraith; Danny would need the full brunt of that _particular_ attack when he faced off against the Juggernaut.

Gathering hot energy into his hands, Danny murmured, "I'm so sorry about this."

He grabbed the cage and forced the energy into the metal. It wasn't long before it was red, then orange, then a blazing white. Ryan began shrieking in terror as he registered the presence of something like fire. Fear filled his eyes and his voice. He tried to shove his attacker off, but the cuts his claws made no longer affected Danny as they had just seconds before.

"Don't touch me!" Ryan cried out, giving Danny a pleading look. "Please – _don't touch me!"_

He exploded in a ball of flames. Danny's fists landed against the floor, holding him up. He still had tears in his eyes, but there was no bawling of horrified madness, no snapping and freaking out. He just wished that he could throw up. He really wanted to.

Danny managed to make it to his feet and walked over to where Susan was crying. She looked up at him fearfully. "Why… Why did you save me?" she asked softly.

He held out his hand. "Because you deserve to be saved, not destroyed."

She looked at him in surprise, then lowered her eyes to his outstretched hand and stared at it silently for a moment. Finally, she put her hand in his and he helped her to her feet.

"Are you okay?" he asked. He looked like hell.

Susan gave a weak laugh. "I could ask you the same fucking thing." She studied his face, eyes wide. Then she pushed him back angrily. "Damn you! Why won't you just fucking blast me to Kingdom Come, already?! I'm just gonna keep coming back until you do, Danny!"

"Because!" he roared back, surprising them both. "Because even if you did fuck up in your life, your ex was a goddamn _dick_ for killing you, and I'm not gonna be like _him! _You can sit there and think I fucking pity you all you want, but I _don't!_ Okay?! I want to save you for purely _selfish _reasons, Susan – so sue me!"

Susan took a step back as the shock paused her momentarily. Angry tears suddenly filled her eyes and she crossed her arms protectively over her chest. "Why couldn't I find a guy like you when I was alive…?"

Danny ran a hand through his hair and sighed, shaking his head. "Maybe you did and you just didn't give him a chance." When he got out of here, he was going to start fucking _worshipping_ the ground that Sam Manson _walked_ on.

There was a short silence before they both began laughing, weak little chuckles bubbling out of them. Call it shared madness or them recognizing a punch-line to a bad joke, but either way, it certainly made them both feel a bit better.

Susan raised her head. "Hey, Danny…"

"Yeah?" He looked up, smiling. Suddenly his face turned to horror. "Susan, look out!"

She turned quickly to see a mountain of a man had appeared behind her, scowling down at her with a menacing sneer. He pulled back a fist. She was frozen in terror. Surely this would kill her, even if wraiths _couldn't_ kill one another – the pain would definitely do it!

They hadn't even heard the final clock chime.

"No!" Danny grabbed her by the shoulders and twisted, throwing Susan to the ground behind him. He turned back to Horace, arms crossed, in time for the punch to land square in the center of the 'X' they made.

As his arms were sandwiched between the Juggernaut's fist and his own chest, Danny wondered if they would break. They didn't, but only because he was in his ghost form – had he been human, they would probably need to be amputated for all the damage they took. He clenched his teeth against his own howl of pain.

"Susan. Run. Get out of here." Danny looked over his shoulder. She was still paralyzed from fright, staring at Breaker Mahoney. _"Susan!"_

He threw up a shield as Horace brought down his fist, then another when the second fist came towards them. Danny could feel the pain affecting his ability to fight as it started to register the wounds that the Jackal had given him. Come to think of it, he was probably losing some serious blood, too.

Finally, one of the Juggernaut's fist found Danny, slamming against the top of his head. The world spun dangerously. Danny lurched to one side and tried to look up. Another fist was coming.

That was it. He was done for.

"_No!"_ There was a scream and he felt a ghost appear in front of him, felt arms wrap around his shoulders protectively. Danny felt the fist hit them both. They went flying backwards. He tried to twist in midair and they both landed on their side.

He looked up a Susan. Her face was full of color and tears. Why was she crying? Why was she smiling?

"Get up, you idiot." she scolded him gently. "Get the hell out of here and go back to your stupid girlfriend. You don't need to protect me anymore."

She disappeared. Danny stared, wide-eyed, at the spot where she'd been just moments before. She was gone. She was sad, but she was at peace. Wasn't that a good thing…?

"Danny!" Jean appeared over him, tugging at his shoulders as she tried to get him on his feet. "Danny, get up! Hurry! He's coming!"

"Wh… Wha…? Huh…?" He was still dazed. The world threatened to defy gravity and throw him onto the ceiling. Man, was he fucked up by that last hit…

Jean stood up, placing herself between the approaching wraith and Danny. "Stay back! I won't let you hurt him!" she screamed viciously. Horace didn't seem bothered by her threat.

Danny grabbed Jean and pulled her behind him. He had to brace himself against a wall as he sucked in as much air as his half-dead lungs could hold. Then, without hesitation, he let loose his final Ghostly Wail.

Horace was at a dead run when the blast hit him. Gradually, it slowed him until he was standing still, leaning into the shockwave as it tried to throw him back. The final wave rattled him. He grunted, taking a step back.

Then he corrected his posture and scowled hard at Danny. Horace started walking towards them again.

"Danny." Jean grabbed his arm as he stared at the incoming mammoth. "Danny, please. Go hide. Let me distract him for a while. You need to rest."

"No. This nightmare ends _now."_ he replied, throat horse. His eyes were locked on the bullet wounds in the Juggernaut's forehead. He only had one shot at this.

Crouching low to the ground, Danny summoned every last ounce of energy he had in reserve and sprang at Horace, who began to pull back another fist. He blasted everything he had into the bullet-wound cluster. He felt the white rings appear around his waist. Horace's fist made contact with Danny's chin.

With a loud _thump,_ Danny crashed to the floor, completely human. Through heavy eyelids, he watched the wraith disappear in a cloud of smoke. He thought he smelled gunpowder.

The world went black.

* * *

"Man… I'm gonna be lucky if I don't overdose on aspirin trying to get rid of this headache…"

Jean smiled softly as she and Danny walked through the corridors of the house. He groaned, holding his head. He hadn't been out long, but she was certainly grateful that he had survived the other eleven ghosts.

They arrived at the front door of the house. Danny pulled on the handle.

It was locked.

"What the…?" He frowned, shaking it. He pulled on it with all his might – which, granted, wasn't a lot at the moment. "What gives?!"

Jean turned to him. "Danny, this house won't open until _all_ of the twelve ghosts are at rest."

He looked at her, confused. "Yeah… but… I can go now. Why aren't you at peace?"

"Don't you remember what I told you?" She smiled sadly at him. "A wraith can only cross over peacefully if they no longer have any loved ones who are _living._ My husband and children… they're still alive."

He still looked perplexed.

Slowly, it dawned on him.

"…But I can't do that." Panic invaded his voice. "Jean, I… I can't _do _that!"

"You have to."

"No! I won't! Y-You've helped me throughout this entire mess, and I… I can't kill you!"

Jean had never looked more tired as she watched new tears spring into Danny's eyes. She leaned against her IV as he threw a small tantrum, shaking his head and grabbing clumps of his hair as he tried not to cave in on himself. Even Dan wasn't laughing overhead.

Danny looked at her desperately. "Please… Jean… There has to be some other way. We can get out of here. There has to be another way." he said, his voice weak and broken. He'd never looked more like a child to her.

"I hope my son grows up to be like you, Danny Phantom." She smiled sadly, taking one of his hands. "But if you don't get out of here and stop Dan, then my son, my daughter… _everyone_ will be in danger. I know that this is a difficult choice, but it _is_ the right one, I swear. _Please,"_ – She looked at him pointedly, eyes growing glossy. – "do this for me. Set me free."

He took a step back, hand outstretched. It shook a little. He bit his lips together. "I don't want to do this." he said quietly.

"I know."

"Jean… I can't thank you enough for helping me…"

She smiled. "You don't have to."

There was a blast as energy shot from Danny's palm. Jean's burns began glowing, lighting up from the inside. Danny looked horrified as he realized she was burning up.

She closed her eyes, looking tranquil, then gave him a final look. "Close your eyes, Danny."

He covered his face as she blew up in a burst of inferno.

Everything was quiet. The lock clicked and the door slowly creaked open. Danny stumbled out and fell to his knees. No wonder the wraiths had been able to attack him in his human form – he was in the Real World. He stared at the grass, felt sunlight on his face… It all seemed so alien to him.

After a moment, he was finally able to lift his head and look around. The iron-covered house was nestled among thick trees on a hillside. Not far away, he could see Amity. It was still standing. Dan hadn't destroyed it yet.

"Dan." He knew the ghost could still hear him. Danny looked through the doorway at a surveillance camera. He searched for the words he truly wanted to say.

There was a pause. "Now you know what it felt like to lose someone you care about and have it be _all your fault."_ Dan said coldly.

Finally, Danny found his words.

"I'm going to fucking kill you."

**The end.**

**=^ónò^=**

Yeah, I know. Danny doesn't even get a face-off with Dan as closure. Like I said, this fanfic does _**not have a happy ending!**_

_**Nyaa!**_

That said, thanks for reading! I know, I know.

I _am_ a horrible person.

Nyaa.


End file.
